Intro to Filmmaking

How to Use

This is an introductory unit in filmmaking, which consists of four lessons (included in the slider at the bottom). Each lesson features content, activities, exercises and online samples. Each unit includes a culminating project, with “specs” that outline what the project should be, and “reflection questions” to guide student discussions.

Unit Overview

There is a large mental leap for students to make a distinction between camerawork and cinematography. Almost all students can operate a camera. They can point it at a subject and follow it. However, it takes practice and planning for a student to think in terms of designing a scene and composing a shot. This unit module is designed to get students to realize that filmmaking is a lot more than knowing how to operate a camera. Even Uncle Johnny can point his smartphone at the pitcher in a baseball game and hit record. It’s the art of filming, not the act. We want to get students to start thinking about filmmaking as an art, and to provide students with the toolbox to stitch creative shots into a scene. We want them to start becoming cinematographers, not camera-persons.

This unit is useful for students grades five and up, and can be used as a quick primer to provide structure to a video project in any discipline.

Unit Project: A Conversation

Action shots of car chases, exploding buildings, fight scenes or rowing a canoe on a scenic lake are the movie scenes we tend remember. But the simple conversation–just a couple of people talking–is the bread and butter of the filmmaking world.

This unit’s project is to create a visually appealing, rhythmic short video that captures the flow of a typical (or not so typical) conversation. To do it, we need to master the building blocks of cinematography: composition, the five primary shot types, the three primary camera angles, and the techniques to put them all together.